


Funken

by orphan_account



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: M/M, could be platonic but meh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-19 09:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22375906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "Giriko. There are people with burning torches marching outside.""Well they're not running around with pitchforks so no need to worry."
Relationships: Giriko/Justin Law
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	Funken

**Author's Note:**

> This actually is a tradition where I'm from - the pyre's called Funken (usually around 10 - 15m high), and it's set on fire the weekend after ash wednesday.
> 
> I sorta rushed it at the end but i still like it so I hope someone will enjoy reading it :)

“Giriko. There are people with burning torches marching outside.”

From his vantage point on the couch, Giriko can see Justin’s reflection in the window. He’s fiddling around with his headphones, and while he does not sound alarmed, his posture betrays his curiosity. The unspoken question is enough for the chainsaw to get up and join Justin at the window. There’s indeed a procession, children and adults alike carrying lit torches. The flames cast an eerie glow, light and shadows flickering across the snow and stone walls of the alley. 

“Well they’re not running around with pitchforks so no need to worry.”  
Giriko is leaning against the shorter man’s back, calmly watching the people pass by. As reward for his troubles, he gets an elbow shoved into his ribs and a huffy priest in his arms.

“There’s someone carried on a cross, surrounded by a mob with torches. I don’t understand what part of this would be appropriate to not worry. What are they doing?”

“Well, little executioner. Haven’t you ever seen a witch burning?” 

Giriko’s grin is wicked, lips stretched far too wide over pointy teeth. Seeing the indignant expression on Justin’s face, he takes a step back to avoid further bruises. He’s laughing, and the priest can’t quite bring himself to be mad at him.

“It’s a tradition around here to say goodbye to winter. The people are marching towards the market place to light a pyre. The thing on the cross – it’s a doll filled with black powder called the Funkenhexe. They once said she’s the one keeping the winter in the land. So, as a fuck you to mother nature, the witch is hauled up a burning pyre so that she may die and take the cold of winter with her. If she does not explode, she gets buried underneath the pyre when it burned down to prevent her from lingering. Didn’t you learn anything at all during your time running around Europe as Death’s weapon?”

Justin’s eyes light up like a cat’s seeing a Christmas tree, and before Giriko can utter “No we’re not going there”, he already feels himself getting dragged to the front door and has his coat shoved into his arms.

“Don’t just stand there I want to see that!”  
The priest is hobbling around on one foot, simultaneously putting on his coat and shoe, failing both and ungracefully falling over. Now he’s the one grinning, even sitting half-dressed on the floor, and it’s enough of an incentive for Giriko to give in and get dressed himself.

As soon as the couple’s out of the door, Justin’s skipping around the snow and dragging Giriko along. Whatever traces of doubt he had are gone, now. It’s charming, Giriko thinks, to see the young man so excited over something that has lost its edge for Giriko a long time ago.  
They do get some side glances as they follow along the trail. Giriko is notorious for being not fond of crowds, the sole exception is maybe the tavern. And while most of the villagers don’t exactly know Justin, he did make an impression on them, blasting music on his bike and dragging along a very angry chainsaw.

The pyre is located in the middle of the market place. It’s a messy stack of pallets and Christmas trees, with a pruned tree in the centre. Lined around the pyre are the people carrying the torches. There’s music, food stands, the mayor droning on about something – Justin’s not sure what exactly, he’s both distracted and not interested enough to bother translating when he can just ask Giriko about that later. 

“You didn’t say that it’s basically a folk fair. I didn’t expect there to be so many people.” 

“It wasn’t always like that. Used to be badass, real witch burnings, but those cowards turned it into this. Celebrating like they have a clue about how harsh winter really can be when they already complain about temperatures slightly below zero. They wouldn’t have stood a chance during the time when witches actually were to blame for the cold.”

“Careful there old man your age is showing through. Wouldn’t want some one to get the impression that you’re a sap. Now hush.”

Even from the distance they are at, they can see that the witch is being lifted on top of the pyre. As soon as no one is standing on the pyre anymore, it gets lit from all sides. Accompanied by a fanfare of music, the fire burns higher and higher, with the people slowly backing away from the heat and the frozen earth starting to steam around the pyre. The smell of burning wood, cracking sounds, sparks from the fire is all around the place. Giriko’s leaning against Justin, with his hands locked around his waist, and is calmly watching. Whatever reservations he had against coming here, seeing how it changed from a murderous spectacle to a harmless folk fair over centuries, are gone now. Though he’ll never admit it even under torture, going to see it with Justin makes the tradition less dull for him than it has been in years.

It doesn’t take long for the witch to start burning, and with an anticipated bang it goes up in flames, adding to the trail of smoke slowly vanishing in the night sky.  
“There you’ve seen it. Happy now?” Giriko’s grumpy, he’s cold, his ribs hurt, so he’s hoping for Justin to pick a fight. What he gets is a kiss, and he can’t bring himself to protest against getting food from one of the stalls.


End file.
